Learning and Teaching…12 Months. 12 Projects. 365 days

Beans beans Are good for your heart? And make you do what?

Look… I know beans may be the unsexiest food ever. But for us veggie people they are completely necessary. I got to thinking about beans yesterday because of my best friend. Julie and I have very different ideas of a healthy diet. Basically, while we have a mutual respect for one another’s choices, we both think the other’s diet is a fast disgusting trudge toward death… She basically would jump off a bridge before becoming a veggie. Apparently she and her equally as fabulous boyfriend follow an atkins-esque diet minus the dairy, which is not something that is my cup of tea.

So as we were talking yesterday, she yelled at me for eating so many beans. This took me by surprise… She said something like, “Dude, do you know how many carbs are in beans? Stay far away from them. And seriously….You want to be fartin’ all the time around people? You’re gonna gross out your man. No way.” My response, “Please don’t ruin beans for me too Jul…Im still not over the loss of cheese from my life, I can’t handle losing beans too.” . Anyway…This got me contemplating my beloved bean.

First of all, we all know the saying about beans. Don’t act like you don’t. I am a huge bean fan… But apparently for many people beans tend to make their bellies a little gassy. Personally, I never really knew if it was true, or if we were all experiencing a sort of placebo effect as a result of the bean/gas rumors and songs. I truly was not sure if this mean bean rumor was some what of a legend made up by kids on the playground just so they could sing a song about farts.

Hold on to your seats folks, beans can make you stinky…If you hadn’t realized this already. Apparently, the combination of fiber and resistent starches that are difficult to “break down” is what causes your belly problems. But that doesn’t mean you should’nt eat them. Every person is different and every body’s reaction is different. Being a complex carb, they are full of yumminess as well as nutrition…If you really want to know what your talking about, check out these links.

So here is my favorite bean recipe… HUMMUS! And FYI your hummus doesn’t have to be fattening. You CAN make hummus without tahini. It is not a necessary ingredient. And it is so simple.

1 can BPA free garbonzo beans

1-2 tbs olive oil (start w a little and add to your taste)

Lots o garlic finely chopped

1 tsp fresh or dried Dill (add more to taste)

garlic powder to taste

Throw it all in a blender and blend until smooth. You can add anything you want. If you don’t think it will taste right with the dill, leave that out. Simple, less fattening without the tahini, and you can build on this lil gem. Add red peppers, jalapenos, more garlic…Anything. And so many veggie foods that could be boring you can just slap some hummus on it and it becomes so much better.